Sunday, 1 March 2015

They say that to be born Welsh is to be born with music in your heart and poetry in your soul. If you ever wondered where that came from, here’s the full poem.
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus / Happy St David's Day.

In Passing by Brian Harris

To be born in Wales, Not with a silver spoon in your mouth, But, with music in your blood And with poetry in your soul, Is a privilege indeed.

Your inheritance is a land of Legend, Of love and contrast. A land of beauty so bright it burns the eyes. Of ugliness that scars the Spirit As the Earth.

Wales is an old land with wounds That weep in hills. They wept before in the bodies of men And in the hearts of women And time will never heal them.

The stigmata of sorrow, Of pain and poverty, Of lonely crucifixion in the dark, Remain our lives to feed.

This Land of our Fathers was built on coal. Its rivers of mingled blood and sweat Have forever darkened it, Relieved only by death.

We are a sad people. Our sadness being wrapped in harps and music And praise to God, For the lovely, yearning light That feeds the Spirit as well as the eyes.